Bottle pick-up and handling mechanism



Jan. 9, 1934. w R QPPAE 1,943,004

BOTTLE PICK-UP AND HANDLING MECHANISM Y Filed Jan. 5. 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 5- /5 /6 IG Jan. 9, 1934. w. R. COP-PAGE "1,943,004-

BOTTLE PICK-UP AND HANDLING MECHANISM Filed Jan. 3, 195s 2 Sheets-'sheet 2 Patented Jan. 9, 1934 l UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Borrar: PICK-UP AND HANDLING MEcnANrsM l William R. Coppage, Livingstone Heights, Va. Application January 3, 1933. Serial No. 649,995

Claims. (Cl. 294-87) This invention relates to a bottle pick-up and handling mechanism, and it has for its object tov provide a simple and inexpensive mechanism by means of which a group of bottles may be engaged 6 and lifted simultaneously.

'I'he invention further contemplates the provision of means for engaging and lifting a group of bottles simultaneously and depositing them in a case or crate; the act of placing said bottles 10 in the case serving to automatically release themto be picked up and before being lowered intov engagement with the bottles.

Figure 5'is a -view like Figure 4 showing the parts in theposition they occupy after the bottles have been engaged and picked up.

Figure 6 is a transverse sectional view through the device of the present invention showing it seated upon a milk bottle crate and releasedlto drop the bottles into the crate.

Figure 7 is an enlarged sectional view illustrating the manner of engagement ofthe devic with the bottle necks and c Figure 8 is a fragmentary inner face view of one corner of the device in position upon a corner of the crate.

Like numerals designate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawings.

The device of the present invention comprises two principal parts, viz. a bottle .engaging and pick-up mechanism and a pair of case engaging `members; the bottle engaging mechanism being capable of a limited vertical movement with respect to the case engaging members; the arrangement being such that as the bottles are lowered into a case'or crate the case engaging members first come to rest upon the upper edge of the case and an additional downward movement of 5o the bottle engaging mechanism serves to release `the bottles and permits them to dropr'intp place venience of illustration, a conventional type of milk bottle is shown-and the crate illustrated .is a conventionaltype of crate commonly employed in dairies and which is, by spacing mem- K bers 6a, divided into compartments for the' reception of the several bottles. The bottle engaging mechanism comprises a top plate 8 from which end plates 9 depend. These/ end plates` are provided with the pairs 'of inclined slots 10, 10a. v

A series of pairs of gripper bars ll-are provided with end projections or lugs 12 which pass through the inclined slots 10, 10a and also pass through horizontal slots 13jformed in the case engaging plates or members 14. The end portions 15 of the'case engaging plates 13 are channeled, as indicated at ,16, for the reception of the `end plates 9 of the bottle engaging mechanism. The gripper bars comprise the confronting halves 11a, `11b, said halves being hingedlyconnected to each other, at 11c.

While I have shown these members as being hingedly connected to each otherat their lower portion, I wish it to beunderstood that the invention is not limited in this respect because it would be possible to dispose the hinges in some other place, as for example, at the tops ofthe gripper bar sections 11a, 11b.

lThe confronting `faces of the gripper bar sec` tions are providedwithl recesses 11e. These recesses are not 'truly semicircular but are somewhat elliptical in form and the material of thej bars is roundedoif, as indicated at 11d. This arrangement I find to be of advantage when handling" bottles having externally` projectingr paper caps upon them sincethe arrangement described aids' in effecting the lrelease of bottles so capped when the gripper bar sections 'move away from` each other as hereinafterdescribed.

By referring to Figure '5 it will be seen that the walls of the recessed portions-11e are downwardl;1 divergent or bell shaped so that these bars are caused to readily locate themselves upon Athe necks of the bottles to be picked up and this arrangement also aids in properly aligning the bottles for engagement by the bars.

In the particular form `oi the invention shown for purposes of illustration, I have shown three sts of gripper bars each provided With four recesses 11e. Therefore, a mechanism of this sort will simultaneously pick up twelve bottles, transportand deliver them to a case and release them after they have been positioned with respect to the case. However, it is to berunderstood that Ithe invention is not limited withv respect tothe number of gripper bars or the number of recesses provided therein.y The principles here shown and described are adapted for use in the handling of beer and soft drink bottles or any other type of bottle. I preferably round and outwardly flare the material of the gripper bars at the upper ends of the recesses 11e, as indicated at llf; this construction further aiding in the release of bottles having externally disposed caps without unduly disturbing said caps, since it leaves no sharp edges upon which such caps can catch.

Under modern practice 'as employed in dairies and other bottling establishments, the bottles arebrought to a desired point upon conveyor chains, and these conveyor chains may be so disposed as to collect and rack the bottles in any desired formation. By employing an arrangement of conveyors of conventional and known form, the bottles may be brought to a station in a plurality of rows.

For purpose of explanation, it will be considered that the bottles are being delivered in three rows. If the bottle lifting and handling device of the present invention be grasped by an operator using the projecting portions 8a of the top plate 9 as hand grasps and lowered upon the assembled bottles, the necks-of the bottles will pass upwardly Vinto the tapering openings formed by the confronting recesses 11e. The divergence of the walls of these recesses is of utility primarily in centering the device with respect to the bottles and aligning the several bottles with the recesses.

The protuberant rib 5a` at the top of the bottle is not very much greater in diameter than the distance between the confronting walls of the sections 11a and 11b at the most restricted point.

AWhen the gripper bars come to rest upon the ribs 5a of the bottles additional downward movement. of said gripper bars is momentarily arrested and continued downward movement of plate A and end plates 9 causes the inclined slots 10, 10a to assume such position as to open the gripper bars. The tendency of the gripper bars to open is increased by the downward thrust of the gripper bar sections upon the bottle necks under the influence of gravity. That is to say, the two halves of the respective gripper bars are moved upon their hinges enough to let the ribs of the bottles pass upwardly between the gripper bars and as soon as this is done, the gripper bars drop by gravity and as their end projections 12 ride downwardly in the inclined slots their upper portions are thrust toward each other and they are causedto engage beneath the ribs 5a of the bottles. The whole group of bottles may then be lifted simultaneously and transferred to the case 6. As the bottles are lowered into the case their lower portions enter the several compartments of the case, and when the bottles have nearly, but not quite, reached their lowermost positions in thev case, the case engaging plates 14 will come to-rest upon the end members of the case. Bottle, cases of this sort are commonly provided with uptanding projections 17 at their four corners, which -projections normally serve to align cases with each other when they are piled one upon the other. I utilize these same projections to properly align myl improved bottle handling mechanism with the case; the internal angle formed at the juncture of the plates 14 and the end members 15 serving to receive the projections 17 for this purpose.

After the plates 14 come to rest upon the ends of the case, said plates can no longer move downwardly. Therefore, continued downward movement of the bottles and gripper bars under the influence of gravity causes the inclined slots l0, 10a acting upon the projections 12 of the gripper bars to move the several gripper bar sections away from their companion sections; the projections 12 at this time being supported by and riding upon the lower edges of the horizontal slots 13 of the case engaging plates 14. This opening movement of the gripper bar sections results in releasing the bottles and they drop into positions of rest in the several compartments of the case.

While I have described the device as being hand operated, it is apparent that` it is adapted for use in connection with many of the well known mechanical transfer devices which pick up a group of bottles from one position and transfer them to another. Some of these devices comprise swinging arms by which the bottle .pick-up mechanism is swung bodily from one position to another, and it is apparent that by merely trunnioning the frame herein shown and described at the hand grip plates 8a to a pair of such swinging arms, the present invention may be Imechanically instead of manually operated.

It is apparent that many ways will readily suggest themselves to the skilled engineer of accomplishing the results herein described, and I wish it to be understood that the invention is not limited to the particular mechanical construction shown, but that it includes within its purview any means operable under the act of positioning a battery of bottles in a case for releasing the bottles from the carrier mechanism. Consequently, it should be understood that the invention includes within its purview whatever changes fairly come within either the terms or the spirit of the appended claims.

Having described my invention what I claim is:

1. In a bottle pick-up mechanism, the combination with a pair of bottle neck engaging members adapted to slide down over and engage the necks of a plurality of bottles under downward 120 bodily movement of said members with respect to the said bottles, of a bottle case engaging part, and connections between said members and said part for operating said members to release the bottles when said part engages a bottle case.

r 2. In a bottle pick-up mechanism, the combination with a plurality of pairs of bottle neck engaging members adapted to slide down over and engage the necks of a plurality of bottles under downward bodily movement of said members with respect to said bottles, of a bottle case engaging part,v and connections between said members and said part operable under vertical movementof the members and part with respect to each other to operate said members to release 135 the bottles upon engagement of said part with a bottle ,case and upon continued downward -movement of the said members with respect to being capable of limited vertical movement with respect to each other, and means operable under the said limited vertical movement of the said parts with respect to each other for effecting opening and closing movement of the gripper bars.

4. A structure of the character described comprising a plurality of gripper bars each of which comprises two halves, said halves having confronting recesses, means for mounting the said halves for movement toward and from. each other, the walls of said recesses being downwardly divergent to constitute bell-shaped guiding means for guiding bottle necks through the recesses of the gripper bars, a. carrier frame having vertical end walls provided with pairs of converging slots, projections on the gripper bars passing through said slots, case engaging end plates, means for slidably mounting the end plates of the carrier and the case engaging end plates for limited vertical movement with respect to each other, said case engaging end plates being provided with substantially horizontal slots into which the projecting end portions of the gripper bars project.

5. The combination with a bottle receiving case, of a bottle gripping and lifting element comprising case engaging members, aligning means for aligning the case engaging members with the case, and means for releasing the bottle gripping element from the bottles under the nuence of its engagement with the bottle receiving case.

6. The combination with a case having conventional aligning means adaptedto align superimposed cases with respect to each other, of a bottle gripping mechanism shaped and dimensioned to engagethe conventional aligning means of the case to align the bottle gripping mechanism with the case by the mere act of placing the mechanism upon the case, and means for actuating the bottle gripping mechanism to release the bottles carried thereby under the influence of the engagement of said mechanism with the wall of 'said case.

7. A device of the character described comprising a pair of confronting gripper bars having bottle neck receiving openings formed complementally therein which openings present downwardly divergent bell-like portions and outwardly divergent portions thereabove, means for hinging the gripper bars with respect to each other, and a 'two part mechanism by which said bars are carried and comprising means-for moving said bars to open' or closed position under the influence of the movement of the two parts with respect to each other, the two parts of said mechanism being capable oi. vertical movement with respect to each other.

8. A device of the character described comprising a pair of case engaging plates adapted to restl upon the end sections o a bottle case and having a plurality of substantially horizontal slots formed therein, a carrier frame comprising a top plate and vertical end plates, the latter being slidably mounted with respect to the case engaging plates, each of the end plates of the carrier frame having a pluralits,I of pairs of downwardly convergent slots formed therein, a plurality of gripper bars each consistingof two half sections having confronting recesses formed thereinfthewalls of which are downwardly divergent, and extensions upon said half sections of the bars which pass through the inclined slots of the end plates oi the carrier frame and whichl 'have nearly, but not quite, reached their lowermost position in said case for releasing the botties from said pick up mechanism, said means comprising a case engaging part, the release of said bottles being effected by downward movement of the remainder of the pick up mechanism with respect to the case engaging part.

,10. A structure of the character described comprising a. plurality of gripper bars each of which comprises two halves, said halves having confronting recesses, means for mounting the said halves for movement toward and from each other, the walls of said recesses being downwardly divergent to constitute bell-shaped guiding means sey for guiding bottle necks through the recesses of the gripper bars, a carrier frame having vertical end walls provided with pairs of convergingslots, projections on the gripper bars passing through said slots, case engaging end plates, means for slidably mounting the end plates of the carrier and the case engaging end plates for limited vertical movementwith respect to each other, and means for mounting the ends of the gripper bars for limited horizontal movement toward and from each other.

WILLIAM R. COPPAGE. 

